Modular Building Sets - Rumours and Discussion

[DeanLearner]

@Blazej_Holen Have you incorporated NC into a modular layout then? Obviously the ground floor requires modifications to fit it in with the adjacent paved areas, though I’m curious to see what modulars (or MOCs) it works best alongside of. The photo from Jang’s video, with it alongside AS is interesting, though the combination of those two isn’t quite organic enough to convince me to buy it for a modular layout.

I’ve come across a few great Blade Runner-esque Neo Noir city scenes, but it would be a good to find a way of blending that classic/modern mix into an achievable layout.

[Blazej_Holen]

I have it on my beach side area :) Connected to Old Fishing store with one and half baseplate covered with two layers of plates/tiles exactly the same way as water in NC. Old Fishing store is elevated little bit and its base is also covered with plate/tiles to fit with the rest. Next to these is boardwoalk and then road wiith pavement and across street begins my modular street... :) Its still in progress, but due to my limited space I had no other way to do it...

[jonwil]

NinjaGo City is on my wish-list, I just dont have a spare $500 to buy one right now...

 

[lifeinplastic]

Somebody tweeted the official Lego account on Friday asking when they were going to announce the new modular. They responded to say 'keep an eye on our website for any updates (with a smiley)"...

[BrickFit26]

That means the reveal should be happening anytime soon.  but being patient is tough. 

[Herky]

I would take that as an answer that NC is NOT the 2018 modular.  A big no to a police station, while I am not opposed to it, we have what, 45 police stations from the city line.  I hope they are creative and I feel one main building is enough.  The brick bank for example, please someone tell me why it couldn't have just been a bank?  I get the whole story idea where the kiddies need to have some kind of link between their sets, but this is a modular.  I just want a cool building.  I haven't gotten AS yet due to price, but that is very nice.  I don't recall what page it is on, but back in this thread we discussed the need for apartments, to me that would be great, a good old fashioned apartment building with a doorman and several spaces for living quarters.  I also know there was a pattern such as corner, front, front, front, corner...I don't recall where we are now though, I think another front facing building which makes an apartment building fit in nicely.  

 

[Withacee]

Yes, the last two were BB (corner) and AS, so a "normal" building would be the most obvious, given the schedule.
I just hope LEGO will continue the streak of release dates (the last four were 1st of January), the wait is killing us.
I'll be happy with any theme, but I agree we could do with more living space.

It has probably been discussed before, but something seems to have changed in news leaking prematurely.
First news on Winter Village Station appeared less than a day before the official pictures were presented. If we have to wait until after Christmas for some news on this modular, desperate measures are called for. Like designing and Bricklinking our own!

[Wookiee]

I would be down with an apartment Building Modular.  But have a few spare parts or have the parts from the bottom floor that could completely make an extra floor when building upwards.

 

This way if you buy extra sets you get two extra complete floors per set making it more desirable to buy multiple copies. ( Just a nice daydream ), Plus alternate builds with the left over facade pieces for furniture , thus making it completely modular.

[Kinakina89]

Saw a comment on FB modular page that someone from the lego store said that they will annouce the new modular by this month. Maybe around 23rd Nov.

[ddavid]

OK. I just hope that we will find out before december.

The sooner the better

[AFOLguy1970]

10 hours ago, Herky said:

I would take that as an answer that NC is NOT the 2018 modular.  A big no to a police station, while I am not opposed to it, we have what, 45 police stations from the city line.  I hope they are creative and I feel one main building is enough.  The brick bank for example, please someone tell me why it couldn't have just been a bank?  I get the whole story idea where the kiddies need to have some kind of link between their sets, but this is a modular.  I just want a cool building.  I haven't gotten AS yet due to price, but that is very nice.  I don't recall what page it is on, but back in this thread we discussed the need for apartments, to me that would be great, a good old fashioned apartment building with a doorman and several spaces for living quarters.  I also know there was a pattern such as corner, front, front, front, corner...I don't recall where we are now though, I think another front facing building which makes an apartment building fit in nicely.  

 

I would be fine with a police station if it was built in the spirit of the modulars.  Focus on architecture/details, and we have a winner.   The only thing I honestly fear would be it would get the DO treatment and have a lot of parts and space sacrificed for the sake of a storyline.  The 45 police stations from City are more or less the same boxy white and blue structures with a breakaway prison cell.  Honestly, the next modular should probably be an unemployment office, and the first person in line for the unemployment check should be whoever has been designing the jails over the years.  What is that saying, "Fool me once, shame on you.  Fool me twice, shame on me."  Fool me 45 times, well, that is a bit of a problem   If they absolutely insist on an eventual police station with the tired and worn out breakout story, maybe the escape feature could be a brick built cake with the crowbar inside which is delivered to the inmate by a visitor.  Fewer parts used, and you have your story.  Something in the spirit of a New York City precinct would be nice.  

Also agree with your assessment of the Brick Bank.  The whole building should have been the bank.   Not that I disliked the laundromat, but would have been happier if it was its own structure.  

[Terrasher]

1 hour ago, AFOLguy1970 said:

 

Also agree with your assessment of the Brick Bank.  The whole building should have been the bank.   Not that I disliked the laundromat, but would have been happier if it was its own structure.  

I disagree. I like when there are more than one building included per modular. I think it adds more variation to the whole line, having various, different sizes, be it height or width, of buildings. I think the Brick Bank is perfect as it is. Even if it shares some space with the laundromat, nothing is missing. There's the vault, the lobby, the secretary's desk and the boss' office. I'd rather have a laundromat than more empty space in the lobby or a bathroom. 

I still think 1 building per modular sets are great. Green Grocer, Town Hall, Parisian Restaurant, these don't need to share their baseplate with another building because their architecture strives on the size of the facade. Who would want a 16-wide Town Hall or a 10-wide restaurant? The Brick Bank, on the other hand, is rather simple and the addition of the brown structure makes it less bland, in my opinion.

[paupadros]

Just occurred to me, with the super awesome new chinese bowl mould, they could now one of those shops full of porcelain cups, dishes (they did print the dish piece once for a CMF, I think), vases and lamps. That would be an absoulte joy of an interior.

2 hours ago, Kinakina89 said:

Saw a comment on FB modular page that someone from the lego store said that they will annouce the new modular by this month. Maybe around 23rd Nov.

Sounds great!

Just now, Terrasher said:

I disagree. I like when there are more than one building included per modular. I think it adds more variation to the whole line, having various, different sizes, be it height or width, of buildings. I think the Brick Bank is perfect as it is. Even if it shares some space with the laundromat, nothing is missing. There's the vault, the lobby, the secretary's desk and the boss' office. I'd rather have a laundromat than more empty space in the lobby or a bathroom. 

I still think 1 building per modular sets are great. Green Grocer, Town Hall, Parisian Restaurant, these don't need to share their baseplate with another building because their architecture strives on the size of the facade. Who would want a 16-wide Town Hall or a 10-wide restaurant? The Brick Bank, on the other hand, is rather simple and the addition of the brown structure makes it less bland, in my opinion.

You've just read my mind.

Aaaand, I'm still betting for Tuscan/Emilia Romagnan style yellow/orange houses with all their shutters!

Edited November 6, 2017 by paupadros

[Herky]

I guess we have a couple camps, to me the laundromat was basically so small and plain it was pointless to have it there.  One little tiny room with 2 washers and 2 dryers, what's the point?  The office over the laundry was way cooler to me.  Brick Bank is probably my least favorite set due to the size and extra cost for seemingly less Lego space and enjoyment.  It was almost like this one was an afterthought since they were likely working on AS to come out the following year.  If it is possible to have too many details, this one was it, with its cramped compartmentalized spaces that are hard to get hands into and build.  I have seen 50 MOC's that are better than Brick Bank.  Just looking at Paupadros MOC's above my post make me drool over those way more than BB.  Those are ones I would buy 10 times quicker than BB.  

And so I hope, whenever it is announced, that the next modular has thought and coolness built into it.

 

[BrickyBoy]

3 hours ago, Kinakina89 said:

Saw a comment on FB modular page that someone from the lego store said that they will annouce the new modular by this month. Maybe around 23rd Nov.

November 24th, it's Brickmania : the biggest Lego event in Belgium... Would be great if TLG reveals the new modular there. *Dreaming*

 

[antp]

54 minutes ago, Terrasher said:

I disagree. I like when there are more than one building included per modular. I think it adds more variation to the whole line, having various, different sizes, be it height or width, of buildings. I think the Brick Bank is perfect as it is. Even if it shares some space with the laundromat, nothing is missing. There's the vault, the lobby, the secretary's desk and the boss' office. I'd rather have a laundromat than more empty space in the lobby or a bathroom. 

I still think 1 building per modular sets are great. Green Grocer, Town Hall, Parisian Restaurant, these don't need to share their baseplate with another building because their architecture strives on the size of the facade. Who would want a 16-wide Town Hall or a 10-wide restaurant? The Brick Bank, on the other hand, is rather simple and the addition of the brown structure makes it less bland, in my opinion.

I fully agree with all that; I really like the Brick Bank as it is.

[swisstony]

Thanks for the mention on the possible police station

Now whilst we would love to see Lego release the next modular as a Police station as ultimately they would do such a great job of it, better than ours, we feel it should be something else , maybe a hospital or bookstore/apartments maybe. It also means that we get to keep our MOC on our street as a unique one, selfish I know but what the hell :)

Fingers crossed they tell us soon as in our house the excitement level has just ramped up a notch of late. First the news of the release of Taj Mahal and now the next modular.

Cmon Lego, tell us !!!

[Cmdrcody]

IF they do end up doing a police station, I could see them adding a small donut shop like the BB did with the laundry mat. The size of that being probably 1/5 of the entire build and 4/5 to the jail. This would keep to the having multiple things in the modular not just dedicated to one building. Again just speculation/wishing

[paupadros]

57 minutes ago, Herky said:

Just looking at Paupadros MOC's above my post make me drool over those way more than BB.  Those are ones I would buy 10 times quicker than BB.  

And so I hope, whenever it is announced, that the next modular has thought and coolness built into it.

Thanks man! . Btw, as bonus, I do own BB and is a rather regrettable buy in my opinion. But next to DO, it looks super, so... it's acceptable. AS is way better in every single aspect. Though I've never digged the middle building, at least it has some of the coolness BB lacks. And building in that coolness onto a modular is not that hard at all, just take a look into the real world, try to recreate some things Lego-ize them and just pack the modular, basically!

[ReplicaOfLife]

2 hours ago, Herky said:

I guess we have a couple camps, to me the laundromat was basically so small and plain it was pointless to have it there.  One little tiny room with 2 washers and 2 dryers, what's the point?  The office over the laundry was way cooler to me.  Brick Bank is probably my least favorite set due to the size and extra cost for seemingly less Lego space and enjoyment.  It was almost like this one was an afterthought since they were likely working on AS to come out the following year.  If it is possible to have too many details, this one was it, with its cramped compartmentalized spaces that are hard to get hands into and build.  I have seen 50 MOC's that are better than Brick Bank. 

Yep, thanks.

The pointlessness of the laundromat section of BB is only topped by the upper two floors of the blue building from DO. But contrary to those, the laundromat doesn't even look too good. This idiotic strategy of adding pseudo-buildings to the modulars really needs to stop. Either do it right, like in the Pet Shop or (almost - they were one shared staircase away...) in Assembly Square, or don't do it at all.

To be honest, I haven't even built the Brick Bank yet. I actually really like the look of the bank facade, but the laundromat just put me off. Luckily, I noticed recently that one of the spaces I use to diplay my modulars is actually wide enough to fit 88studs. So far, it houses two full buildings (GG & GE) and one half of Pet Shop, but once I'm done designing my next MOC I'll finally open the BB and will build a 24 wide, non-corner MOD from it. No laundromat, no wide chimney, but three full stories. Should be quite a cool building then.

Edited November 6, 2017 by RogerSmith

[Axylius]

I have no issues with any of the modulars, each one is unique and special in their own right, say for example according to me what makes CC such a great set is its lack of interiors because it signifies the beginning of modulars, how the modular series began and how it has evolved over the years, some of us AFOL's might find the laundromat in the BB to be a useless addition but to others (myself included), that small tiny shop in the corner of the bank with its money laundering activities is an integral part of BB, and completes the entire Storyline effect that the designer of BB had intended to convey. Each modular has its own story, some contain an integrated storyline (DO,BB etc), others contain their own unique design character (revolving door in GE, Fire Truck in FB, elevator in TH etc.)

[GregD]

While disappointed not to hear so far, I'm thinking it would be better if I shut myself from all news until buying the new modular in January.  That way I would enjoy the build a little better, and get more pleasant surprises...

I probably will buy the new modular regardless but recently have been thinking it's not a dead-cert buy anymore.  DO to me was disappointing, it's ok but has no lasting quality like earlier modulars.  BB was ok but quite small.  AS very nice on its own but doesn't look great next to other modulars.

If there were yearly additions to Ninjago City I might swap over from modulars!

[tastybrick]

I love it when TLG put different businesses in one set. So my fave set would of course be the AS, with its flower shop, dental clinic, photo studio etc. And then the DO with be my 2nd fave with the pool hall, barber shop, detective's  office. I love colorful modular sets. I feel I get more out of 1 set with these kind of modular. 

Edited November 6, 2017 by tastybrick

[Carefree_Dude]

I personally prefer one large building over multiple smaller ones. you get a more detailed large building and you don't get weird things like people having to walk through a bakery and a dentist office to get to their tiny apartment.

[Agent 86]

22 hours ago, Herky said:

The brick bank for example, please someone tell me why it couldn't have just been a bank?  I get the whole story idea where the kiddies need to have some kind of link between their sets, but this is a modular. 

I agree. I wish the entire structure had been a bank. As it is, they had to "fudge" the second floor by assuming that the bank purchased the second floor of the neighbouring building at some point in time to expand their offices.

When it comes to a single Modular being comprised of more than one building, only the Pet Shop / Townhouse has got the right balance in my mind. The Detective's Office is a bizarre mishmash of different buildings (especially the oddity of the kitchen) and although Assembly Square is something of an improvement, it's a little too OTT for me. The expanded baseplate obviously helped Assembly Square quite a lot too.